Fr. John Francis O’Neil
Named publicly as accused in the 3/4/2026 RI Attorney General’s Report. Parish priest. Sent on sick leave to Via Coeli in Jemez Springs NM in 1950, then to Queen of the Clergy Villa in Escoheag in 1952, returning there in 1957. In 1961 O’Neil was suspended, then allowed active ministry in the Diocese of Grand Rapids MI. He was reinstated in the Diocese of Providence in 1965. Diocesan records do not specify the reasons for the sick leaves or suspension, only mentioning “to avoid serious scandal.” O’Neil died in 1978. In 7/2003 a woman told the Diocese that O’Neil sexually abused her in 1959 or 1960, when she was 11-or 12-years-old. The alleged abuse occurred when O’Neil was at her family’s home for a parish census. The woman said the priest asked her if she had religious items in her bedroom and when she took him to see, he touched her in her pelvic area.
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